Ted Cruz Confronted By Gay Republican On Live TV
During a wide-ranging town hall on Good Morning America this morning, Ted Cruz was asked point-blank about his stance on gay rights by a gay Republican who was concerned about the prevalence of potentially discriminatory religious freedom laws enacted in states like North Carolina and Mississippi. The gay Republican voter asked a simple question: How would a Ted Cruz presidency protect him and his husband from discrimination?
“That freedom ultimately protects every one of us,” Ted Cruz answered without addressing the question. “We shouldn’t have the right to force others to knuckle under and give up their faith, give up their belief.”
ABC News hosts George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts pressed Cruz on his answer, but the Republican presidential candidate wouldn’t budge. Religious freedom, says Cruz, protects everyone. The question posed by the Republican voter was dodged by Ted Cruz, who simply reiterated his previous stance on religious liberty.
.@tedcruz to @GMA: I'm the only GOP candidate who doesn't eat pizza with a knife and fork https://t.co/RdK6Nu2WvO https://t.co/jAYLMKKh4n
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 18, 2016
“For me I have spent my entire adult life fighting to defend religious liberty, fighting to defend the freedom of every one of us to seek out and worship God, and I think keeping government out of the way of your life protects the freedom of every one of us,” said Ted Cruz during a town hall interview with Good Morning America.
Some commentators are unsatisfied by Ted Cruz’s answer to the question, suggesting that his answer strongly implies his support for the controversial North Carolina and Mississippi religious freedom laws that permit legalized discrimination against LGBT citizens of those states. Talking Points Memo wrote today that Ted Cruz has a storied history of supporting discrimination against the LGBT community.
During the Good Morning America interview, Ted Cruz expressed that all people should be treated equally under the law. According to Cruz, the religious freedom laws, like those enacted in North Carolina and Mississippi, simply ensure religious freedom for everyone, including gay Americans. However, according to Cruz, who previously supported a Supreme Court ban on gay marriage, laws ensuring equal treatment of gay and lesbian couples should be decided by the states because different states have different values.
“We would expect the people in New York to adopt different laws then perhaps in California or Texas or Florida,” Ted Cruz said during the interview, doubling down on his opposition to gay marriage.
ABC News host Robin Roberts, who came out as a lesbian in 2014, pressed Cruz for a more direct answer, but the Texas senator only restated his previous assertion.
“The First Amendment protects everyone equally – it protects our faith,” said Cruz.
According to ABC News, Ted Cruz was also asked about another controversial issue during the interview on Good Morning America: Would Cruz ever join Donald Trump as his vice president? Ted Cruz addressed the question head-on, stating that it’s not likely he would ever serve as Trump’s vice president.
On @GMA, gay man asks @TedCruz about laws promoting "institutionalized discrimination" https://t.co/U1spzr6auehttps://t.co/KdyVaZkuH5
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) April 18, 2016
“I have zero interest whatsoever,” said Ted Cruz of a potential vice presidential nod from Donald Trump.
The ABC News hosts pressed Cruz again for a more elaborate answer, and the Texas Senator took the opportunity to slam Trump’s poll numbers.
“There are a lot of reasons but perhaps the simplest is if Donald is the nominee, Hillary wins. Hillary wins by double digits and I don’t think there’s anything we can do to change that, and the stakes are too high,” said Ted Cruz during his interview on Good Morning America today.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have had a confrontational relationship since the start of the Republican primary race, as the Inquisitr reported previously, but despite exchanging barbs with Donald Trump, who Cruz calls a “sore loser,” Cruz didn’t rule out a vice presidential run, stating rather that it’s unlikely he’d accept the nomination.
[Photo by David McNew/Getty Images]
